EU prevents Amazon from buying iRobot, which plunges into turmoil
Amazon today announced the cancellation of its planned $1.4 billion acquisition of Roomba manufacturer iRobot, following the desiderata of the European Commission. Amazon throws in the towel. Due to the impossibility of obtaining regulatory approval from the European Union, Amazon will not be buying iRobot, the American manufacturer of Roomba connected vacuum cleaners, after all. Last November, the European Commission sent Amazon a statement of objections concerning this transaction…. It considered that if the takeover were to go ahead, Amazon could have « the ability and incentive to foreclose iRobot’s competitors by implementing several foreclosure strategies » and could « in particular take advantage of the additional data collected from iRobot’s users « . Last week, Reuters had reported that the Commission was considering prohibiting the transaction. Amazon is taking…